| With nuclear power stations across the globe, deciding where to store nuclear waste safely is a priority that seems to have slipped under the media radar for awhile now. However, now that MP Ian Macfarlane has re-introduced plans for a nuclear waste dump in NT after changing the original location for the dump on Aboriginal land at Muckaty station, it seems more than likely that the government will settle on using a pastoral station.
A pastoral station with stored nuclear waste? What if the storage leaks? How are we to know if there is the possibility for this?
Firstly, information as to the details of how the waste will be stored and where it will be stored on one of these stations is not readily available to the public; problem number one. Secondly, keeping this dump on a property full of livestock that will eventually be available as meat for consumers to purchase in supermarkets is undeniably a problem. Farmers have agreed that the benefits financially from creating this dump will outweigh the ‘low-risk’, but is that good enough? Although cattle would not be raised directly on the location where the dump was, who is to say how far away a location would need to be to be safe from contamination if there were any issues?
The ABC has covered articles here for further information on the plans proposed by Ian Macfarlane:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-02/nuclear-waste-dump-muckaty-station-pastoral-ian-macfarlane/5786338
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-03/cattlemen-pastoralist-nuclear-waste-dump/5788312
And here is a news report from the ABC on Thursday October 2nd:
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2014/s4099009.htm
We need more facts. Sign this petition to urge for more information or a halt on plans until we can get some details.
image sourced from http://fopnews.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/containing-uncertainity-design-for-infinite-quarantine/ |
